Stranger By The Minute
by NihilityChild
Summary: Fem!Odd story. When Odd came to Kadic, she did not expect to get pulled into an adventure involving a killer computer virus, another world and the virtual girl living there, and friends that will last a lifetime. But that's life, she supposed.
1. XANA Awakens part 1

**Hello and welcome to my first Code Lyoko fanfic. I was hoping to upload this on October 9****th****, aka the day Jeremie first found the supercomputer according to the prequel, and I'm glad I made it! This story deals with the adventures of the Lyoko warriors both from episodes from the show as well as my own ideas, although I'm not sure as of yet if I'm going to follow the plot exactly. The major difference in this story is, if you read the note in the summary, the fact that I made Odd a female. As for pairings I have not yet decided on who should be with who, and if you have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them, I have no preference for this fandom. One other thing before I let you go is that this story will be told from the point of view of Odd only, I may make exceptions in the case of Odd not being present (such as the episode where Odd was put into a coma) or I may just skip over them entirely because that would make for a very short and boring chapter.**

**X.A.N.A. Awakens Part 1**

**Welcome to Kadic**

Odd Della Robbia sat in the office of her new school, waiting to be called in to see the principal about her transfer. Her parents had sent her to Kadic Academy after they had found out about her poor grades and figured that sending her to a boarding school would help her shape up. Of course, Odd didn't really mind the change; the only thing she was worried about was the 'no pets on campus' rule, feeling her dog Kiwi moving around in her backpack. She knew it was stupid of her to bring him, but she couldn't just leave her baby with her family.

"Della Robbia?" the secretary called, bringing Odd out of her thoughts and causing Kiwi to still. "Mr. Delmas will see you now."

Odd walked into the room and set her bag gently on the ground in front of her feet as she sat down, silently praying that Kiwi did not draw any attention to himself. When Mr. Delmas looked up at her he seemed surprised at her appearance, which caused Odd to be confused; sure she had a bit of purple in her hair, but why would he be that surprised over her hair style? Odd watched him double check something in the papers on his desk before turning back to her.

"You are Odd Della Robbia?" he asked her, and he sighed when she nodded, making her even more confused. "I'm sorry, there seems to have been a mix-up with your application."

"You mean I can't go to this school?" Odd asked, wondering what could have happened with her forms.

"No, no, nothing like that," he assured her. "You see because you were transferred here in the middle of the year we had planned on putting you in a dorm room with a roommate but because of the mistake with your forms we put you in a room with a male student, Ulrich Stern."

Odd blinked; did she just hear that right? "You thought I was a guy?"

"Yes, I am very sorry for the inconvenience, and we do not have any unused rooms in the girls dormitory."

"I don't mind staying with this Ulrich guy until you can find me a room," Odd said with out much thought at all. "As long as he's not a creep it should be fine."

Mr. Delmas frowned at that, folding his hands together in front of him on his desk. "We have strict rules here at Kadic about boys and girls not being allowed in each others dormitories during the night Ms. Della Robbia," he paused, seeming to consider the proposition before sighing. "However with these circumstances you may have to stay with him temporarily while we try to get you into the girl's dormitory. With any luck I can find you a place to live before the end of the day, if not I will inform Jim of this so you and Stern will not get into any trouble for having to share a room."

Odd nodded at the Principal, making to stand up when she thought he had no more to say. When he saw her stand he reached for something on his desk and handed the sheet of paper to her.

"That is your class schedule," he informed her. "Ulrich Stern will be in your first class, average height, brown hair and eyes. You can also have Stern show you around the school if you like. Your room number is 109." Odd nodded once again and thanked the man as she left the office, looking at her schedule she asked the secretary where the science building was before setting off to her first class.

X

"Are you Ulrich Stern?" Odd asked a sullen-looking boy in her new science classroom. The boy glanced up at her before seeming to dismiss her entirely. She ignored his rude attitude and continued to smile.

"That depend on who wants to know," he replied. Ulrich seemed to be fully prepared to ignore Odd, something the blonde girl would not allow as she immediately sat down beside him, relishing in the startled look she got out of the boy. 'Finally,' she thought to herself, 'something other than a frown.'

"I'm Odd Della Robbia!" she chirped at the boy leaning away from her as if her cheerful mood might be contagious. "I'm your brand new temporary roommate!"

If Ulrich had been drinking anything, she would bet he would have spat it out as he sputtered "What?!" his attention, and that of a black haired girl near them, was now focused completely on the grinning girl. "You're a girl!"

"So I've noticed," she replied, not missing a beat. "But apparently the school didn't, so because of that little mix-up the academy and the principal told me to room with you while they tried to get me a different room."

"Latch onto me is more like it," the boy grumbled, not caring that Odd heard him say that. 'Well isn't he just a ball of sunshine', she thought.

"Relax, it's only until they find me a room," she shrugged; ignoring the glare he was giving her. "Besides, I'm totally cool, you won't even know I'm there." Adding in her thoughts 'Although you will definitely notice Kiwi,' with a barely there frown, 'I really hope this kid likes dogs, or I'm screwed.'

"I hope so," Ulrich stated before turning fully to the girl next to him. "Look, it's not as if we go way back, and I don't even know if you're telling the truth, so just for now lets take things nice and slow okay?"

"Fine with me," Odd agreed while putting up her hands as if in surrender. "As long as you're not a peeping tom I think we'll get along great." She grinned as she caused the boy to blush and sputter at the insinuation. 'Who ever said serious people were no fun?' she thought to herself.

It was at that point that Odd, while leaning back in her chair, noticed that the black-haired girl who had been glaring at her nearly this entire conversation was walking towards them. Odd raised an eyebrow at the girl as she stood before her, completely ignoring Odd while giving Ulrich a simpering look. "Hi there Ulrich, sweetheart," the girl spoke with a sickeningly sweet voice, flipping her hair in a way Odd knew guys found attractive for some reason. "I've got something very important to tell you."

Ulrich wasn't paying much attention to the girl Odd suspected might be his girlfriend, merely turning the same unimpressed look he was giving Odd earlier on her and said in an exasperated voice, "important like what? 'I lost my mascara' or 'my pink t-shirt ran'?" His clear 'done-with-everything' tone caused Odd to snort as she continued to watch the exchange between Ulrich and the girl.

"No, no" she giggled, "Nothing as serious as that. It's something about you and me, Ulrich. If you want to know more come by my dorm tonight at eight, I'll be waiting."

Then the girl glared at Odd as if to warn her off, before making her way back to her table. She watched the girl go with a raised eyebrow before turning back to Ulrich, who was once again staring at the blackboard ignoring her. "Sweetheart?" she questioned the boy, "That's your girlfriend I take it?"

"That's Sissy, the principal's daughter, and no, she is _not_ my girlfriend," he told Odd with a scowl. "Guys flip over her, but unfortunately for me I'm the one she's interested in."

"Oh come on, she can't be that bad," Odd replied, more for the purpose of continuing the conversation than defending the girl who had only ignored her for the short time they were in the same space.

"She is, trust me," Ulrich remarked. "She's totally brain-dead, not to mention a leech too."

"Ok, that's pretty lame," she laughed.

The two quieted with the rest of the class when the teacher walked in to start the lesson. There was some confused muttering when the woman started to write her own name on the board instead of something to do with what they were being taught today. The teacher, Mrs. Hertz, cleared her throat for silence so she could speak to the class.

"Settle down now, the reason I have written my name on the board is because we have a new student joining us," she told the class, and a number of students turned their heads toward Odd or started muttering to their neighbours. Mrs. Hertz also had her attention turned towards her, and Odd suppressed a sigh at what she knew was coming. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

'Yup, I so saw that coming,' she thought to herself, 'might as well get it over with.' She stood up with the intention of making herself more noticeable, though the tables were so tall that there wasn't much of a difference between her sitting and standing. "Hi," Odd smiled at the class and gave a wave, "I'm Odd."

The laughter that followed her introduction was both expected and disappointing, but she kept up her smile and ignored it as she always did. She noticed Sissy sneering at her from two tables over, and even Ulrich hid a snicker behind his hand. In fact, the only two people not laughing were Mrs. Hertz and a blond, bespectacled boy sitting at the front. 'My name isn't that funny,' she complained in her head, her smile twitching a little.

"That is enough," Mrs. Hertz silenced the class as best as she could, before turning a frown on Odd. "Young lady, when I said introduce yourself I meant your name."

Odd could feel her cheeks starting to heat up from the woman's reprimand. "That is my name," she told the teacher, her smile drooping a little, "Odd Della Robbia." Now it was the teacher's turn to be embarrassed as Odd sat back down, however Mrs. Hertz seemed to have no intention of apologizing as she turned to the board to being the lesson. By the time Mrs. Hertz started speaking some scientific jargon, Odd had already zoned out.

X

"And the waiter says 'I don't have frog's legs, that's just the way I walk!'" Odd laughed, following Ulrich outside onto the campus. "Get it?"

It was quite obvious to Odd that her attempts at making friends with Ulrich were not going to well when he turned back to her with his usual frown. "No," he grunted, annoyance clear on his face, "but what I am starting to get is that you're determined not to leave me alone."

Odd dropped her smile, 'could this guy even try to be friendly?' With a sigh she tried to get through to him. "Look Sunshine, if we're going to be sharing a room for who knows how long, we're going to have to get to know each other or else it will be a total nightmare. It wouldn't kill you to try being friends with me, you'll see, by the end of the day you won't be able to do without me!" she proclaimed. Ulrich apparently did see harm in befriending her as he began to walk away, Odd staring after him. "Welcome to Kadic," she muttered before walking after him.

They had walked for about five minutes before Ulrich turned back to her. "Do you have to follow me everywhere?"

"Yes," Odd responded, "in case you've forgotten, I'm new here and have no idea where anything is. _You're_ supposed to be showing me around." He didn't bother replying, merely continuing walking with Odd following behind, this time without any complaints. They made their way to a little shack in the schoolyard filled with a few vending machines and what looked like a machine that made hot chocolate or coffee. "What's this?" she asked him as he stuck a few coins in one to buy a can of pop.

"Exactly what it looks like," he replied. "It's called the vending machine shack." He seemed to debate on something before pointing to the machine that made hot beverages. "Beware this one, though, the drinks can be a hit-or-miss sometimes with the flavor."

Odd hummed in understanding before fishing out a few coins from her pocket to buy her own drink. They stood in relative silence while they drank; the only other student coming to buy something was a pretty older girl wearing all black. Odd and silence never did agree well, though, so it wasn't long before she opened her mouth to talk once again.

"So you know your girlfriend, Sissy was it?" Odd asked, swirling the remaining liquid in her cup before draining it entirely and throwing the cup into the trash.

"I've already told you, she's _not_ my girlfriend," Ulrich cut her off.

Odd just shrugged in response before going back to her train of thought. "Yeah, anyway, I get the feeling she doesn't like me much."

Ulrich nodded his head to that, seeming to think it over while watching another student walk past them into the shack. "Yeah, she gets jealous really easily, so she doesn't like girls who hang around with me. It'll probably be worse for you since we're sharing a room."

Whatever Odd was about to say next was cut off by a yell from the boy at the vending machine. Both Odd and Ulrich looked over to see him getting electrocuted by the machine, and they ran over to try and help him as he fell to the floor. Odd recognized the blond as the one kid from her first class who hadn't laughed.

"Belpois! Hey, Belpois! You alright?" Ulrich shouted at the boy, trying to get him to respond. When he didn't, Ulrich turned back to Odd. "I'll take him to the infirmary, you go tell a teacher, ok?"

Odd nodded before running off, leaving Ulrich to help the Belpois boy. It wasn't long before she had run into Jim Moralés, who rushed off in the direction Ulrich had taken Belpois after she told him what had happened. Now left with no guide and nothing to do, Odd debated on following Jim and Ulrich to visit the boy, but decided against it. She was worried, yes, but it wasn't like she knew him so he would probably just find her to be a nuisance. That left her with the task of trying to find something to do, and ended up walking in the direction of the dorms.

On her walk back to the dorms she tried to make note of where the different buildings were now that she had lost her guide, marking the cafeteria under 'important'. It was a little early for supper, but Odd headed there anyway, opening the door and greeting the lunch lady with a smile and a wave. There was nobody else in the cafeteria yet, so Odd didn't worry about stopping to chat with the woman.

"Hello, I'm Odd Della Robbia," she introduced herself to the surprised woman. "I'm new here at Kadic."

"I'm Rosa," she told Odd, before raising an eyebrow at the girl. "Not many kids go and introduce themselves to the lunch ladies."

"I don't see why they wouldn't, meals are an important part of the day, and my favourite time of the day," she grinned, earning a smile from Rosa.

"I love people who love to eat!" Rosa laughed. "It's a little early, but I wouldn't mind serving you some food if you want some now."

Odd's eyes sparkled at the offer, and readily accepted with an ever-growing smile. Her smile seemed to be contagious as Rosa herself could not keep a smile from her face as she asked Odd what she wanted from the menu. Odd took her tray to a nearby table and began to eat with gusto, much to the lunch lady's amusement. Odd had finished her meal in no time at all, and wasted no time in telling Rosa how good her cooking was, the woman in question swelling with pride at the child-gourmet's praise. With a glance at the clock to see if students would be heading in soon, Rosa ushered her closer.

"I'm not supposed to do this," Rosa spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "But since I always have leftovers, if you want you can come back for more food after meals."

It was no question that Odd accepted the offer on the spot, nearly bouncing with happiness. So, with a wink from her new friend and a doggie bag of extra food Rosa handed her, Odd resumed her trek to her dorm room, humming under her breath. She reached the building with the dorms rather quickly, but before she could go through the door Sissy Delmas, looking like she had stepped in something unpleasant when she noticed Odd, blocked her way.

"Oh, you again," Sissy sneered, "The 'strange' girl from class."

"My name is Odd," said girl spoke, unimpressed with the spoilt beauty-queen in front of her and just wanting to get to her room.

"Whatever," Sissy huffed, glaring at the smaller girl. "You had better stay away from Ulrich, he's going to go out with _me_, not some scrawny little girl like you."

"I am _not_ scrawny," Odd snapped, hating that word more than anything. "Besides, who are you to tell me who to hang around with?" She didn't let Sissy get another word in and pushed past her so she could finally get to her room. Her good mood from supper had worn off thanks to Sissy, and Odd had the sinking feeling that that would become a regular occurrence. When she opened the door to her room she could only hope Ulrich hadn't been there first when she saw the mess Kiwi had made. She set her food on the desk so she could try and get him to settle down and stop destroying all of Ulrich's belongings.

X

It was later in the evening, after the sun had begun to set, when Ulrich announced his arrival by the shocked gasp at the state of the room. Odd shot up from her bed when she heard him, biting her bottom lip as she cast her dog a sidelong glance before looking up at her angry roommate. To be honest, she had tried to clean up, but every time she put something away Kiwi would drag something else out, and so Odd eventually gave up and the mess remained.

"What is with this mess?!" Ulrich thundered, not exactly a wise thing to do considering he had left the door open in Odd's opinion. "And where did that mutt come from?!"

"Um," Odd tried to think of something to placate the fuming boy. "That's my dog, Kiwi. He just had a little fit, that's all. The poor thing's not used to being cooped up all day."

"Look at this!" he shouted at her, throwing his arms out to gesture to the mess along the floor and his bed where Kiwi was busy ripping up a pillow. "My CDs! My Clothes! He's trashed everything and-" he cut himself off as he got a good look at his bed, Odd standing up to see for herself. "Did you see what he did in my bed?!"

"Sorry," Odd grimaced, not sure what else to say. "I can't exactly take him out with everyone around, what with the no pets rule."

"No kidding," he snapped, glare back full force. "I think the principal's going to be interested in hearing about this!"

"Wai-" Ulrich cut her off with a slam of the door, and Odd sighed before turning to Kiwi, who looked up at her with a tilt of the head. "It's ok, my diggity dog. If he does rat you out then I'm going with you."

Figuring it was useless to try and go after Ulrich, Odd picked up Kiwi off the boy's bed and set him on her own, were he sat at the foot of the bed and watched her. Odd, after making sure he wouldn't get up again, went to work trying to fix up the room. She cleaned up Ulrich's bed first, removing the sheets and busted up pillow and throwing them into a garbage bag, sure he wouldn't want to use them again. Grabbing an extra set from the boy's closet, she made his bed and then set to work stacking his CDs on the desk and putting all the clothes Kiwi had dragged out into the laundry hamper he had on his side on the room. With this done, she told Kiwi to stay put and not make any more messes before she dragged the garbage bag outside and threw it into the first bin she found. When Odd got back to the room she was pleased to find that Kiwi was still in the same place she left him and no new mess had been created.

"Come on, buddy," she called, emptying her bag so he could climb in. "I'll take you out so you won't have any more accidents."

She was more careful this trip down, making sure hardly anyone saw her leaving the dormitory and snuck her way into the woods. Odd breathed a sigh of relief when she was far enough away from the school that no one would see her or her dog, so she set down her bag and let Kiwi out to sniff around. Walking around with Kiwi helped her relax, no longer worrying about Ulrich or getting kicked out of the school. Kiwi went farther in, and Odd followed behind faithfully. She was broken out of her daydream, however, when Kiwi ran off into the bushes.

"Kiwi!" she hissed as quietly as she could, running after the puppy. "Kiwi, get back here!"

Odd nearly tripped over her own feet trying to stop when she caught up with him, finding him being petted by another person. Odd felt butterflies in her stomach as she watch the girl she recognized as someone from Kadic Academy playing with her dog. 'Ulrich was one thing, and I at least talked to him first, but I don't even know this girl! I'm so going to get kicked out!' she yelled in her thoughts. It was then that the girl noticed her, and stood up from her position on the ground with Kiwi still at her feet, probably wondering why mystery-girl stopped paying attention to him.

"Is this your dog?" She asked. Odd could only nod in response, still mourning her bad luck in her mind and hoping this girl was nothing at all like Sissy. "He's really cute. What's his name?"

"Kiwi," Odd muttered, her hands shaking a bit with her nervousness. "His name's Kiwi," she repeated, a little louder, when the girl raised an eyebrow at her. "Um, you won't-"

"Don't worry," the girl assured her, smiling a little. "I won't tell on you, I promise. Though in the future I think you should keep him on a leash if you don't want him to be found out by someone less forgiving." Odd nodded seriously at the girl, smiling in relief at the promise, though she was surprised when the tall girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Yumi Ishiyama."

"Odd Della Robbia," she replied, taking Yumi's hand. "Thanks for the promise."

"No problem," Yumi stated before checking her watch. "I should be going, though. I'm not a boarder so I have to be getting home. See you around Odd, Kiwi."

Odd Waved goodbye to the mysterious girl, wondering if she really would see her around the school since it was obvious she didn't have any classes with her. She scooped up Kiwi and stuck him back in her backpack before beginning her walk back to the campus, not wanting anyone else to find out about Kiwi. On the way there she couldn't help but think about the people she's met today. Rosa the lunch lady was an instant friend much to her pleasure, while Sissy was an instant headache; there was also Ulrich, who she was pretty sure she didn't have much of a chance at becoming friends with anymore, and a brief encounter with the Belpois kid she didn't know the first name of. She really hoped she could become friends with Yumi, since so far she didn't seem to have any luck making friends with kids her own age. Opening the door to her room she let Kiwi out of the bag before collapsing on her bed, not even bothering to change out of her clothes, and fell asleep.

X

Odd stirred, slowly waking up from her sleep due to someone talking near her. She didn't want to wake up yet, though, and tried to ignore whoever was talking, counting sheep in her head. '1, 2, 3… virtualization? What the heck was that? A video game?' she thought, '4, 5, 6.' That was as far as she got before a muffled yelp from Kiwi had her bolting awake. It took her a second to recognize that it was Ulrich who had her dog, looking startled as if he hadn't counted on her waking up, before he bolted from the room.

"Wha- hey!" she shouted, going after him and silently thanking the fact that she had fallen asleep in her clothes. "Give me back my dog!" that was probably not the best thing to shout when you're trying to keep said dog a secret, Odd knew, but she was only focused on catching Ulrich at the moment. She didn't notice Sissy coming around the corner until she had run full force into her, but didn't bother to apologize as she stood back up and continued running after Ulrich, ignoring Sissy's shouts from behind her.

"Ulrich! Come back!" she exclaimed, following him outside and towards the gym, hearing Sissy running after her and shouting to wait up. Once again she ignored the other girl, pausing when she noticed the weird tunnel Ulrich was running down. This allowed Sissy to catch up to her, and the girl grabbed Odd by the shoulder to try and prevent her from following.

"Where is he going?" she demanded. "What are you two up to? I told you to stay away from him!"

Odd pushed the girl's hand off of her and spared her a glare before starting down the tunnel. "I'm not doing anything! He's the one who took my dog, Kiwi!"

Sissy was still behind her, Odd could tell from the loud complaints as they ran through the sewer tunnel, only stopping when they came to the end of the pathway, a ladder being the only exit. Odd wasted no time in going up after him, and Sissy followed along behind her, not wanting to leave Odd alone with her 'precious Ulrich'. When they emerged from the sewer Odd found herself in front of some sort of factory, but didn't allow herself much time to look around the place she would normally find as cool. Once inside she saw Ulrich swinging down to the floor below on a rope hanging from the ceiling, and grabbed the rope to go after him. However, when she got to the ground floor Ulrich was already standing in an elevator compartment pushing a button to go down, not allowing Odd to chase him any more. The small blonde girl glared down the elevator shaft at the retreating machine, hearing Sissy come up behind her, panting from all of the running.

"Why is he taking Kiwi into this factory?" Odd muttered to herself.

"Who knows, maybe he wants to use him for some horrible science experiment?" Sissy replied, seeming to forget her previous hatred of the blonde for the moment.

Odd had not been expecting Sissy to have an answer for her, but she couldn't tell if the girl was being serious or attempting to be sarcastic. "You watch too many horror films."

"Yeah, you're right, I guess that was pretty dumb," Sissy admitted, a little red in the face. "It's probably much more like some ritual sacrifice or voodoo thing."

Now she knew for certain why Ulrich had called the girl brain-dead. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Odd told the taller girl, almost tempted to step away from her. That was when something in the shaft caught her eye; it was a ladder. "Look! There's a way down!"

Trying her best to keep a good hold of the side of the elevator shaft, she maneuvered her way over to the ladder, only letting go of the breath she was holding when she had a firm grasp on the first rung of the ladder. She made her way down, not particularly caring that she left Sissy up there, and kept her eyes on her hands, only looking down when her foot hit the top of the compartment. Letting go of the ladder she opened up a small door that lead down into the room it was currently on, the most likely place Ulrich and Kiwi were. When she jumped down she was surprised at the look of the room; three large, people-sized containers taking up the space connected to a plethora of cables like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Odd walked forward to get a better look, nearly jumping when she heard Sissy fall down behind her into the room.

"They look like coffins," Odd gulped, trying to think of any normal reason why Ulrich would have brought her dog to this messed up room.

"Hey, you're right! Maybe this is the tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh!" Sissy cheered, once again causing Odd to question the sanity of the girl next to her.

Deciding it was best not to say anything else out loud, Odd stepped farther into the room to look for her dog, spotting him in one of the 'coffins'. She ran over to him and scooped him up into a hug. "Kiwi!" she rejoiced, said dog yipping happily at her in return. She giggled as he licked her face, ignoring Sissy's sound of disgust, but then he wriggled his way out of her grip, landing on the outside of the 'coffin' just as the doors slid closed in front of her. Her hands were trembling and heart pounding as the small room seemed to come to life around her, a strange light emitting from the ground and ceiling. Odd could hear Sissy shouting outside the door, and Kiwi barking, but the door wouldn't open when she banged on it with her fist or when she kicked at it. Then with a flash of light she closed her eyes, feeling as if something were pulling at every fiber of her being at once before her entire body went numb and all that was left were her thoughts. In the back of her mind she wondered if she was dying, and then there was nothing at all.

**And that's the end of the chapter, sorry there was no Lyoko time, but honestly when I wrote the entire episode from beginning to end it ended up being over 7000 words and way too long to post as a "prologue" in my opinion. So for now you readers get to enjoy a three part prologue rather than the two part the episodes had it as, maybe even more as I haven't gotten to writing X.A.N.A. Awakens part 2 yet. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and if there were any spelling errors or other mistakes you spot, character-wise or otherwise, let me know so I can improve. Thank you for reading this story, even if you ended up hating it, it still makes me happy, and I hope to get out the next chapter soon.**


	2. XANA Awakens part 2

**Hello again, and welcome to the next chapter of Stranger By The Minute, a title which I may change later if I come up with a better one. Enjoy.**

**X.A.N.A. Awakens Part 2**

**Enter Catwoman**

First there was a sound, a high mechanical noise as if someone were printing something right in front of her. Odd wondered if the factory was just a dream, or maybe she was dead and the after life started in some sort of office. When she opened her eyes there was nothing mechanical in sight that could have made the noise however. She caught a glimpse of some kind of weird looking forest before gravity kicked in, sending her falling towards the ground from where she had apparently been floating in the air. Odd cried out as she hit the ground with a thud, though somehow it hadn't hurt her at all. That wasn't the only weird thing though; her fall gave her a closer look at what she had initially thought was grass, which was really just flat ground the colour of grass.

"What's going on around here?" she called, hoping someone would hear her, heck she would give anything for Ulrich to jump out as say 'gotcha!' "Where am I?" she asked herself, looking around at the trees. "Am I really dead?"

When she looked straight in front of her she found yet another strange thing about the place she landed in; namely the fact that the ground seemed to be nothing but a floating path. Around her were extremely tall tree trunks with no leaves that seemed to disappear into the oddly white sky, some going off the path and disappearing below as well. Trying not to hyperventilate, Odd figured it would be a good idea to stand up and try to find someone who could tell her what was happening. That was when she noticed her hands; or rather, she noticed the big, purple paws she had instead of hands. She screamed, jumping to her feet with surprising agility and stared disbelieving at the trembling paws that were definitely her hands. She was almost scared to look at the rest of herself, but she took a deep breath and looked down. She let out the breath when she realized that what she was now wearing was not too different from what she wore earlier that day, just a bit more like something out of a video game. She used her paws to feel her face, hoping she wasn't covered in fur. To her relief she only felt skin on her face, and, raking the paws through her hair, she found that it was changed into a spiked up-do that somehow defied gravity as if she were now an anime character. 'At least I don't have little kitty ears,' Odd thought to herself, but froze when she looked behind her, wanting to scream again. 'Tail.' She thought, then, out loud, she stuttered out "I have a tail."

She poked the new appendage, flinching when she felt the small tap. 'This is real,' she thought as she stared in awe at the tail swishing erratically behind her. Odd tried to remember how she had come to be in this place, recalling the sci-fi room with the coffins and the strange feeling she had when the thing turned on with her inside it. Almost immediately her thoughts went back to what Sissy had said in the factory about scientific experiments. 'But that's impossible, right? I don't think Ulrich could have had the ability to turn me into a giant cat in that old factory. Not to mention this weird forest. Either this has to be the most messed up dream I've ever had or I must be dead.'

"I am a big, purple cat and I am dead," She said out loud. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm _dead_."

"Um, Odd Della Robbia?" her near hysteric mantra was cut off by this new voice, making her scream and jump in the air, the fur on her paws and tail standing on end.

"Who's there?!" she yelled, looking around for the source of the voice and finding no one around. "Who's calling me?!"

"It's me, Jeremie Belpois," the voice replied.

"Belpois? You mean the kid from the vending machine?" Odd yelled at the sky, where she suspected his voice was coming from. "Is this some kind of joke or something?"

"Yes, that Jeremie, and no, no it's not a joke," Jeremie called back.

"So I am dead, then," she remarked, tail swishing from side to side with agitation.

"Calm down Odd, your not dead," Jeremie assured her, "you're in a virtual world called Lyoko."

That just made Odd confused. "Virtual world? You mean like a video game? Like Babylon Ninja Fighters 3?"

"Maybe," Jeremie told her. "Actually, I don't really know what it is, or all that much about it."

"Cool," she grinned, looking around her with less panic now; Odd figured that if it was a video game then it wasn't real. She was immediately proved wrong when a shock to her shoulder pitch her forward a little, her arm hurting from the hit. Turning around Odd noticed two mechanical bug-like creatures walking towards her, the left one firing off another laser that missed her foot. "Uh, that's a lot less cool. Jeremie? There are these giant cockroaches attacking me, is that normal?"

"Yeah," Jeremie replied.

"Oh, so there's nothing to worry about then?" she asked, eyeing the bugs warily as they got closer to her, poised to run.

"That's not what I meant," Jeremie explained. "You have to get out of there."

Odd nodded in understanding before turning tail and running away from the bugs. She heard them fire a few more lasers after her but felt none of the shock of a landed hit. 'I wish I had something to fight back with,' she grumbled in her thoughts, 'I don't see how these paws can be of any use unless I try scratching them to death.' Ducking behind a tree to avoid enemy fire she realized a perk of being in Lyoko, namely that she didn't feel tired at all after running, and that she seemed to be faster in this world as well. Odd left the cover of the tree to try and put more distance between her and the bugs, going as fast as she could now that she knew she wouldn't get tired.

"Hang in there Odd," Jeremie's voice was back again. "Ulrich Stern is on his way to give you a hand."

"Great," she chirped, ducking behind another tree to wait for the boy. "I was starting to get bored here all by my self." She looked up when she heard the printer sound from when she first arrived on Lyoko and saw some sort of grid appear in the sky. The grid quickly formed into the boy who not even an hour ago had kidnapped her dog. "Ouch" Odd winced in sympathy as she watched him hit the ground as hard as she had earlier. He was quicker in orienting himself, though she would attribute that to him actually knowing about Lyoko before landing there, and looked over his new outfit. The boy was now dressed like a samurai, complete with a real katana blade which he wasted no time in testing out.

"Wow," Ulrich said in awe, smiling fully for the first time in the day Odd had known him. "This sword rocks!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Odd complained, hands on her hips and tail swinging in an arc behind her. "That's so much cooler! Why does he get to be a samurai?"

"I have no idea why," Jeremie replied, Odd watching in amusement as Ulrich searched for him. "Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires and projects them onto your digital incarnation?"

That, however, was the wrong thing to say to Odd, who made a rather good impression of an angry cat; claws out and tail bristling. "I do_ not_ dream of being some anime fetish character!" she yelled at the boy she couldn't see. "And what's more, I'd rather have a weapon like Ulrich! Not these great big useless paws!" she waved them around for emphasis, but at the flick of a wrist a projectile like an arrow minus the shaft came out of her paw, narrowly missing Ulrich's head.

"Hey, watch it!" Ulrich called to the cat girl who was now staring at her paws in newfound amazement.

"Ok, I take it back," Odd grinned up at the boy. "These paws are awesome!"

"I hate to break this up," Jeremie called to them. "But those monsters from before are starting to catch up with you. Try to hook up with Maya, I'll send you the coordinates." The two nodded to each other and took off in the direction Odd had been heading in previously.

"So who's this 'Maya' chick?" Odd asked the samurai beside her as they ran, not recognizing the name.

"She's a virtual girl who lives on Lyoko," Ulrich replied, and Odd noticed he seemed determined not to look at her.

Odd blinked at that. "You mean there are other people on Lyoko? Not just the monsters?"

"As far as we know it's just the one girl," he explained as they came up to a larger platform that forked off into different directions. "I got the impression that Belpois's flipped for her."

They paused in their sprint to decide which way to go and Odd turned to Ulrich with a skeptical look. "Wait, what?" she asked, wondering if she heard him wrong. "For a virtual chick? Is he nuts?"

"Yeah, kind of," he laughed a bit before turning his attention to the sky. "Uh, Jeremie? Are you going to give us those coordinates or not?" When there was no answer Ulrich tried again, a little louder. "Jeremie? Are you asleep up there?"

While Ulrich was busy yelling at the sky Odd looked around where they were, spotting something other than a tree over on the left passage. "Hey Sunshine, look! There's some kind of tower over there, do you think that's it?"

"It's worth a try," Ulrich shrugged, "and stop calling me that."

They ran down the twisting path towards the tower, not wanting to stick around for more bugs to find them. Odd was thankful that the pathways in this world were at least somewhat straightforward so it didn't take them long to reach the tower. However they soon found themselves with another problem, as the tower didn't seem to have an entrance. Odd placed a paw on the wall, trying to feel around for a switch or something to open up a door. She did not expect to actually go through the wall when she applied pressure to it, though, and ended up falling through into open air on the other side. When she saw the platform right next to her she grabbed the ledge before she could plummet to the nothingness below. Adjusting her weight, Odd made to pull herself up onto the platform before anything else could go wrong. However it was just her luck that Ulrich decided to follow her, and before she could move he grabbed her ankles, the added weight making her claws slip a little.

"I can't-!" she started to say, claws making a screeching noise as they scraped along the platform. "You're too heavy! I'm slipping!" It wasn't too long after that that they both fell screaming into the black pit below.

Falling in the tower was one of the weirdest sensations Odd had ever experienced, second only to being virtualized. At first it felt the same as falling normally did, but then it was as if the 'up' and 'down' of the world switched places, and Odd was left flying upwards, carried by what felt like a stream. She had closed her eyes when they fell, but she could still recognize that lights passing by her, but before she could open them she found herself stepping out onto firm ground once again. When she opened her eyes next she found herself and Ulrich outside of the tower, but they were no longer in a forest. Instead it was a great stretch of icy tundra the like of which she had only ever seen in pictures of Antarctica, with mountains made of icy and snow, and land surrounded by air.

"Okay," she drawled, turning a questioning look on Ulrich, who knew more about this world than she did. "Where are we? And how exactly did we get here?"

"Beats me," Ulrich replied, dashing her hopes of answers to this weird world. "I only know what Jeremie told me, and he didn't know much about this place either." He then pointed to another tower not too far from the one they were at now. "Isn't it weird how that tower isn't the same colour as this one?"

"Yeah," Odd said, looking around as well before noticing something else out of place. "And those creatures are kind of weird, too." She pointed him towards a group of what looked like walking cubes headed in their direction.

"I think now would be a good time to get out of here, don't you?" Ulrich called as the blocks started shooting at them. They wasted no time in running away from both the monsters and the two towers. Unfortunately for them, they had run in the direction of the edge of the platform, and the blocks had them surrounded before they could backtrack.

Crouching on the ground, Odd tried to figure out what to do; if she dodged, the enemy attacks would hit Ulrich, who had his back to her. Taking a chance to glance behind her to see how the samurai was fairing she saw him blocking attacks with his blade, giving her an idea. When the block in front of her fired a shot, she crossed her arms in front of her, hoping they would shield her from attacks as well as Ulrich's katana does. She nearly dropped her arms in surprised when a transparent purple shield appeared in front of her, deflecting the monster's beam in a random direction. Behind her, she heard Ulrich shout a battle cry before he jumped at one of the monsters swinging his sword at its head uselessly before springing back to the cat girl and deflecting a blow aimed at her head.

"How do we kill these things?" Ulrich grumbled in a rhetoric manner.

Odd glanced at her paws before taking aim at the monster in front of her, firing a shot off at it, only for it to graze the side. "I wish I knew," she ground out, raising her shield against another volley of attacks. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know what happens when our life points reach zero, do you?"

"No," he replied, much to her dismay.

It was then that a monster's attack hit her in the side, and as she looked down at herself she saw her legs become a grid form before disappearing, the rest of her following soon after. Leaving Lyoko was a lot worse than entering it, Odd found, instead of the tugging and gradual numbness that followed it was as if she were yanked backwards without warning and then shot towards earth. When she woke up she felt disoriented and sick, collapsing on the ground as soon as the door to the 'coffin' opened to let her out. Odd groaned on the ground, clutching her stomach and willing the room to stop spinning. Somewhere to her right she heard another door open.

"Great," came Ulrich's voice, "At least we're alive."

"Alive?" Odd groaned, not bothering to try and stand yet. "If you say so. Excuse me while my supper makes a reappearance."

Ulrich jumped to his feet when a scream was heard from above them. He helped Odd up before running over to a ladder, Odd following behind, still a little shaky from the trip to and from Lyoko. When she reached the top she found Jeremie wrapped up in cables that seemed to have a life of their own. Frozen, Odd could only watch in horror as a separate cable made its way toward the prone boy, shooting electricity from the top. Odd heard Ulrich before she saw him, turning her attention to Ulrich's plan to try and cut the cable with a sheet of metal. It backfired on him, electrocuting him and sending him to the ground. Seeing the cable now going for Ulrich, Odd grabbed the same metal sheet before she could think of a better idea, and swung it at the cable in the same place Ulrich had hit it.

"And it works a second time!" She boasted, cutting the cable in two. "See? I told you that by the end of the day you wouldn't be able to do without me!"

They all watched as whatever had been possessing the cables seemed to just disappear, no longer holding Jeremie up and all falling to the ground. Odd helped Jeremie out of the cables, and they walked over to the supercomputer with Ulrich, Sissy and Kiwi meeting them there. Everyone was silent for a moment, processing what had just occurred.

Jeremie sat at the computer and typed in a few keys, calling out "Maya? Are you there?" as he did so.

The image of a girl around their age with light pink hair and green eyes appeared on the screen. "I'm here. Is everything okay, Jeremie?"

'So this is Maya,' Odd thought, watching the conversation between the computer girl and Jeremie. She stayed silent while Jeremie spoke with her, not understanding any of what they were talking about. Opening her mouth when Maya closed the window to the chat, Odd turned to Jeremie, "So, mind explaining what this is all about?"

They were silent for a moment, before Jeremie looked up at them. Odd listened while he told them about how had had snuck into the factory and found the supercomputer, about how he had come across Maya and Lyoko. When he got to the part about Ulrich and him wanting to test out the scanners Odd narrowed her eyes. Throughout the story Odd noticed how quiet and wide-eyed Sissy had been, probably still scared from the nights events.

"What about you two?" Jeremie asked both Odd and Ulrich. "What was it like in Lyoko? Did you find Maya?"

Ulrich gave Jeremie an apologetic smile, "No, we didn't find Maya. I guess we entered the wrong tower."

"That's okay," he assured the other boy, though Odd noticed the slight disappointment on his face. "Tell me what happened in Lyoko."

Odd and Ulrich glanced at each other, Ulrich nodding at the girl when they seemed to come to a silent agreement that Odd, who was there longer, should tell the story. Jeremie listened intently to all that Odd had to say, from finding out that she had turned into a cat, to falling through the tower into another area, and finally about the strange tower and the monster attack. When she was finished they once again lapsed into a short silence.

"At least we know that you won't be deleted when all of your life points are depleted, although if I had to guess I'd say that the same cannot be said for Maya since she doesn't have a real body to return to," he informed them, Odd suspecting that he was talking to himself more that them, though. When Jeremie looked at them again Odd saw a determined look on his face. "I know this is a lot to ask, but just for now can you guys keep this a secret? I think I have an idea on how to help Maya now."

Beside her Ulrich nodded, Sissy hurrying to agree after her crush, and then all eyes were on Odd. "I'm in," she grinned to the relief of the blond boy, but then she dropped her smile, "but first things first." She reached over and punched both Ulrich and Jeremie in the arm, startled yelps coming from each at the unexpected blow.

"What was that for?" Ulrich complained while Jeremie rubbed his arm.

Odd silenced him with a glare. "What do you think?" she pointed at Kiwi, who was siting at her feet watching them all. "You two kidnapped my dog and were planning on sending him to a virtual world, which according to Jeremie's story you didn't even know if it would work!"

Both boys looked guiltily from Kiwi to Odd, only now seeming to notice what they had planned on doing to the girl's pet. "We're really sorry Odd," Jeremie apologized, Ulrich adding in "Yeah, from now on, no messing with the mu- er, I mean Kiwi."

**Well that's part 2 of X.A.N.A. Awakens. I won't be updating this fast on a regular basis, the only reason this chapter is out the next day is because it was because it was already written, I just had to edit it. I know Odd reacted differently to Lyoko in this chapter than the actual Odd did in the show, but honestly I think freaking out is a realistic response to waking up in another world as a cat. As always if there were any spelling errors or other mistakes you spot, character-wise or otherwise, let me know so I can improve. Thank you for reading this story, even if you ended up hating it, it still makes me happy, and I hope to get out the next chapter soon.**


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